I realised I needed a base to do a few practice animations on, so I built myself a proper tie down base this Sunday morning. An investment in a decent electric jigsaw and drill/screwdriver seems to be a wise bit of spending of my student loan. A few scraps of wood from some Ikea packaging, a bit of PVA and nails later, and I have a good serviceable base:

I won't be pre-drilling holes in the top and instead will just be drilling them as needed for the tie downs. As you can see, the tie downs are working great, and some really nifty poses can be held. However the puppet's legs seem to be doing a bit of a wobbler which I'll need to look into.